Leinster

This. So much this. I had 2 different bikes with the thumb shifter because at the time I thought paddle shifters were out of my price range. I genuinely hated both of them. When it came to buying a bike for my wife, I steered her well away from the thumb shifters, and it didn't take much convincing to get her to agree with me; her Tiagra has been an absolute dream to ride and to maintain.

Now that Sora and Claris have the paddle shifter, I see no reason to avoid them. I've seen some great looking bikes with the Claris groups on them at very competitive prices.

cellery

It really depends on your needs. When you're trying to maintain a certain (high) speed and especially within a group ride or race environment it makes sense to have a lot of gears so that one can fine tune their cadence and effort for efficiency. With lower numbers of gears you will be have big jumps between gears that spin too easy but go too slow and gears that are too hard to push for a long time. The same can be said for extended climbing where you want just the right gear to get up the climb without blowing up. For many people who don't find themselves in such situations regularly, I suspect cheaper groups with less gears are fine, but having 10/11 speed certainly doesn't hurt.

Leinster

The magical, mystical 16t!

jrossbeck

I think the answer is simple. This forum is full of people who love bikes. We all collectively want newcomers to have the best experience, so we are apt to recommend a groupset that will serve them very well now, and into the future if needed, and if the buyer can afford it. Sora and Claris are both very good, but if you can afford it - Tiagra and 105 are better, both for use and resale value. The difference you pay up front vs. selling and/or upgrading later is cheaper in the long run. Obviously this also applies for similar levels of SRAM.

But if your budget can not afford, there is nothing wrong with a lower groupset than Tiagra. The main part is getting a bike that fits.

TrojanHorse

The price of the groupsets doesn't change much until you get to 105 either, and then it's a big step to Ultegra and a huge step (monetarily) to Dura Ace.

If you need to save that extra $50 or whatever, then save it. Your bike will still work.

cellery

I agree the thumb shifters are a pain. If you have the choice and money to go with something more modern (Tiagra) if not for that reason alone. Another drawback with the Claris / Tourney level stuff is the tourney left shifter is rather rattly in the small ring. I can only explain it away that there's cheap hardware in the housing to where the lever rattles when not significantly cable tensioned - I don't know if this is normal behavior but it doesn't affect shifting - just cosmetic.

02Giant 

Wrong thread...

Fly2High

Trojan,

If I recall , for the Secteur, it was a $200 jump for Tiagra (MSRP). For someone who is not absolutely certain they will stay with it or are on a limited budget, $200 could be the difference between buying a bike... or trying something else.

For my 2014 Secteur, it does not have thumb shifters. I have a second paddle behind the brake.

For me, I was seriously looking to keep the price under $700. I had to look for 3 bikes at the time and that can be a tough nut to crack. Going up to $1000 would have definitely taken me out of the running for a bike.

headloss 

Honestly, thumb shifters don't bother me... not sure how I feel about old-sora, but I prefer the Campagnolo style to Shimano STI; I never cared for how the brake lever moves.

MRT2

Claris and Sora don't use thumb shifters anymore.

MRT2

My wife rides a bike with the old Sora thumb shifters, a Jamis Satellite. I tried to talk her out of them and to go a step up to new Sora or Tiagra on the Satellite Comp, but she liked the thumb shifters better. Anyhow, I have ridden her bike for short rides and it shifts OK. Maybe not as nice as my Tiagra shifters but still pretty good.

cellery

Yeah my mistake, one of my bikes has mixed claris with tourney shifters from 2013 - which do have thumb triggers.

wphamilton

I do not recommend to beginners that Tiagra or 105 is the absolute minimum, and I do not agree that there is anything particularly wrong with Claris and Sora drive trains. 105 shifts better. Not that big a deal for beginners.

In fact, for an actual beginner who can be expected to purchase a higher quality road bike after outgrowing the first, I contend that 105 and higher is a waste of money and Tiagra is borderline.

rms13

I wonder how many experienced riders here who make these suggestions have ever ridden new Claris or Sora or even seen them in person? New Claris probably performs better then the 105 groups that where current when a lot of riders got into the sport and base their suggestions off of.

Leinster

The moving brake lever has never bothered me, and I don't get why people complain about that part. I like equipment that performs multiple functions.
My backup bike has Mirage 8spd Ergo, and I love those thumb shifters. The different between the Ergo and the Tourney thumb shifter is one being midway on the hood, and the other being at the top of the hood, so unreachable from the drops by anyone without an extendable GoGoGadget thumb. It's a poor design, and I never understood why Shimano kept it around as long as they did. Personally, I think they were trolling Campy; "Thumb-shifters? That's what we put on our low-end stuff! Nyaaaaaaaah!"

Mindcrime

Nothing wrong with Sora or Tiagra, or even Claris. All of the current groupsets are of good quality and will perform well when properly tuned, and will last for a long time.

That said, as you go up the ladder to 105s, ultegra, and Dura Ace, things get a teeny bit smoother, lighter, and even more durable.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with starting on a lower groupset, but if you keep with the sport, eventually you will want better parts. This will happen because you want that slightly better performance, or because the folks you ride with all have it, or because you see that shiny new bike in the shop and develop a nasty case of upgradeitis.

Perfectly normal and natural

OldsCOOL

It's just the way we do things around here.

Shuffleman

The truth is that there is nothing wrong with Sora, Tiagra, and etc. There is an entry level price point for a good bike. It is typically Sora or perhaps Claris. The vast majority of us would ride no further or faster on any of them. My first bike was Tiagra equipped with Microshift shifters. It rode smoothly. I recently went with an employee to buy an old Steel Lemond that had Sora that had not been ridden in about 10 years. I rode it in the seller's neighborhood and I was pretty impressed. I had no experience with Sora but it was pretty darn nice.
A previous poster probably hit the nail on the head, envy. Sora usually comes on entry level bikes and for some reason we do not want to lump ourselves as newbs. Thus, we are looking at other bikes with a little envy. When you get Tiagra, you look at 105's. When you get 105's you look at Ultegra's. When you get those you look at DA. Once you have those you are broke but green with envy when you see Campy
Anytime people ask me, I say just stick to your budget. Whatever that budget is, just ride. All the groupsets are fine and will accomplish the task. I am whatever level rider that I am. The groupset is not going to raise my level or drop it. That is all about the engine.

CenturionIM

Haven't bought a new bike for a while so only have experience with old groupsets from 2013.
I have used Sora, Tiagra, 105 and Ultegra setups. Also used downtube shifters.
The Sora I used is the one with the thumbshifters. They definitely works reliably when dialed in right. The mechanism feels a little finicky and of course there is the thumb tab.
Tiagra felt a lot better in term of smoothness and had dual levers.
105 felt smoother and more firm but takes a bit more power to operate.
Ultegra, no problem all around.
All are a huge improvement in terms of convenience over downtube shifter. But downtube shifters are darn simple to set up and fix.

If you are a beginner, you wont know the difference because you will not have used different setups to compare them. Once you rotate through a few, you will know. From a performance perspective, probably not too much diff.

milkbaby

^This... truth.

And I wonder how many people splurge on 105 equipped or more expensive bikes, but ride mediocre tires inflated hard as a rock, something that will negatively influence their ride much more than riding Claris.

gc3

we always do what is suggested here in the 41, especially on race day...

Roadbikedude

Buy what you can afford but if the upgrade to the 105 is only another $200 or so, find the cash to buy it. Once you get addicted to this sport you are going to start tinkering with your bike and replacing parts. If you go with the 105, that will be one thing you can leave alone (for a while at least!

bigdo13

which has always puzzled me... One of my bikes (A Marin Venezia) has the Sora group with a thumb shifter and honestly, it's not some horrible thing that i just can't live with... granted i only ride that bike as a commuter as well, but still... overall, that groupset catches more hate than it deserves.. Is it a 105 or an Ultegra or even a Dura Ace? Hell no.. it's not even Tiagra, but it's not gutter scum either... lol

Jiggle

because both are cheap.

StanSeven

I personally won't ride with anyone that doesn't have at least Ultegra